This invention relates to an information processing apparatus, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus of the type which includes a computer body having a keyboard thereon and a display section having a display screen thereon.
An information processing apparatus is conventionally available wherein a display section is supported for opening and closing movement on a computer body having a keyboard on which a plurality of operation keys are disposed.
An exemplary one of conventional information processing apparatus of the type mentioned is shown in FIG. 30.
Referring to FIG. 30, the information processing apparatus 200 shown includes a computer body 202 having a keyboard 201 which has a plurality of operation keys arranged on an upper face thereof, and a display section 203 supported for pivotal motion at a rear end portion of the computer body 202. The display section 203 has a display screen 204 and a peripheral portion serving as a frame portion 205 which holds the display screen 204. The display section 203 can be pivoted with respect to the keyboard 201 to open or close, that is, cover or uncover, the keyboard 201.
A camera section 206 is provided on the frame portion 205 of the display section 203. In particular, the frame portion 205 is partly cut away, and the camera section 206 having a horizontally elongated shape is inserted in the cutaway portion of the frame portion 205. The camera section 206 is supported for pivotal or turning motion in the opposite directions as indicated by a double-sided arrow mark R on the frame portion 205.
The user can use the information processing apparatus 200 as a computer and perform inputting of information and so forth by operation of the operation keys. The user can use the information processing apparatus 200 also as a video camera. In particular, the user can use the camera section 206 to pick up a still picture or a moving picture and take in and record the picked up image into a recording medium or the like built in the computer body 202.
In the conventional information processing apparatus 200 described above, however, since the camera section 206 is provided at a portion of the frame portion 205 of the display section 203, the user can observe the display screen 204 and use the camera section 206 to pick up an image only while the keyboard 201 remains uncovered. Accordingly, the user is likely to operate a wrong one of the operation keys of the keyboard 201 in the uncovered state, resulting in malfunction of the information processing apparatus 200.
Further, since the camera section 206 is provided in a limited disposition space of part of the frame portion 205, the information processing apparatus 200 has a drawback in that a camera section of a large size and high picture quality cannot be incorporated in the information processing apparatus 200 and the camera section 206 is limited also in function as well.